Georgian Mafia

The Georgian Mafia is one of the biggest and most powerful criminal networks in Europe, originating in the Republic of Georgia and the former USSR. During the 1970s, the economic stagnation seen under Leonid Brezhnev's regime led to corrupt officials turning to the Georgian underworld for black market supplies, and the Georgians set themselves apart from the Russian Mafia by favoring cooperation with these officials. Georgian farmers ignored the planned economy by growing much-prized citrus fruits and smuggling them to others via the black market, and the Georgian Mafia also funded the army of newly-independent Georgia during the war with Abkhazia during the early 1990s. In 2005, Mikheil Saakashvili tackled crime and corruption with a series of reforms, making membership of the Mafia illegal and firing corrupt officials. Georgian gangsters were forced to flee to Russia, Israel, and the Middle East in response to the harsh prison sentences handed down to Georgia-based mobsters, and the Georgian Mafia became involved with politics and business as "oligarchs".